theplummer Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I realize I'm not a regular user of E-bay, Heck, I'm not even a casual user of E-bay. But, I don't understand why these flakes won't deal with you if your feedback is not high enough. Just because I've been a member for a couple of years, but chose not to buy anything, and now I ask a guy a question about an item that seemed VERY skeptical, I get told not to bid on his items. What are only regular users of E-bay, determined to be GOOD enough to participate? The fact is this guy placed an add for an item, with no reserve, and a $.99 start bid. Imagine that, less than 12Hrs. later someone placed a $50.00 bid on the item, that was only $130.00 new. Maybe he's doing a little shill bidding, or am I just too sensitive? This is kind of like not being hired for a job because you don't have the experience, but cannot get the experience because no one will give you a chance to learn the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Maybe it's better to not have the experience of losing your money... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplummer Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Maybe it's better to not have the experience of losing your money...Not quite sure what you mean by that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 A little off topic of the thread, but ........ what really bugs me about E-bayers is the manner that they ship stuff. I bought a pair of porcelain faucet handles and begged the guy to be careful with packing. Nope, they were tossed in a bubble pack envelope and one arrived broken. Recently I bought a jigsaw puzzle only because it was new in the box. I needed to keep it that way for a collection. I begged for special attention to packing. They put brown paper around it and popped it in the mail. It arrived crushed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 It can be irritating. One thing, lots of times what looks like shill bidding is a couple of non savvy buyers in a bidding war. Often ends up with a high price that the seller will not be able to collect to complete the transaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplummer Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 There's another annoying thing. I asked this guy a question early afternoon yesterday. Why doesn't the question post at the bottom of the listing like it used to? I thought all parties viewing could view all questions asked and answered. Does he have a way to block questions that would arise doubt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brac Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 As a seller when I respond to a question, I can choose weather it show on the page. On a per question basis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Questions and answers only appear at the bottom of the listing if the seller "clicks" a box to add them to the listing when answering.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Maybe it's better to not have the experience of losing your money...Not quite sure what you mean by that. Just that I've heard of so many transactions gone wrong. Ebay really sounds like a no-man's-land sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I'm gonna go with"your too sensitive".I understand your point but,all you can do is check reputation,bid the most you'd pay(with card unless local..)and hope for the best.It's a crapshoot,there are great sellers and then there's the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplummer Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 I'm gonna go with"your too sensitive".I understand your point but,all you can do is check reputation,bid the most you'd pay(with card unless local..)and hope for the best.It's a crapshoot,there are great sellers and then there's the rest.I would think that the seller's proper approach to my 1 feedback listing would maybe be to ask me the circumstances. Not just tell me that I only have one feedback and he'd rather I not bid on any of his items for sale. Some people just don't buy stuff off the internet. I'm one. This particular circumstance required it, as Sunfire no longer makes the remote control that my daughter broke the touch screen. I found one on E-bay, then found where the guy was auctioning the remote separate from the Theater Grand II (not working). I told the seller that I would be interested in purchasing the non-working Theater Grand if it had a remote to accompany. I really like my theater grand and wouldn't mind another as I could probably have it fixed, but what good would it be without a remote. Even if it was un-repairable, I'd have a remote for the one I have. He emailed me back claiming that he could not include the remote, but, if I won the Theater Grand, he would sell me a remote for the same price as the one listed is, as he was going to list the second remote next week. This seemed fishy to me. I cannot think of any reason that someone would have two working remotes, so I questioned if one was broken. Either that or he was trying to get me to be a bidder on his pile of junk, and then not have another remote. He said no it wasn't broken and since I only had 1 feedback and he would rather not have me as a bidder. What a jerk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I lost a remote once and replaced it. months later found the old one. I'm not proud of it, but it happened. who knows what the situation is with the seller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I found a missing remote 11 years later, deep in the recesses of an armchair. It even still worked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brac Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 sounds like a crappy guy to deal with. I never get why people think ebay is a crap shoot. I have been buying and selling for several years had 1 or 2 shipping issues (refund received) 1 guy tried to scam me, CC charge back. Never any other problems. Over 500 feedback. Of course I do look at feedback, selling history and the like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psioga1jxg Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I have purchased many audio components from sellers on ebay. The units usually require $2-300.00 in repair fees fixing what they represented as good working unit. It's a buyer beware auction site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 "It's a buyer beware auction site." No matter how good the description is, a lot just don't read it, or if they do read it, nothing seems to really register on them. Here is an example the first few words of a description of a set of golf cart battery cables I sell. "This is a new set of 6 AWG (American Wire Gauge) Battery Cables....." Most common question I get on these?...... "What gauge are these cables?" I mean, I get that question at least once a day. Another fine example: I sell battery chargers. For a small 25 amp 36 volt charger the description reads: "DO NOT expect this charger to be able to take a very large battery like a Fork Lift has to full charge. See our other auctions for larger (40 amp, and 60 amp) chargers. " About once a month I get an email from a customer who has bought one of these and tells me "This charger is too small for my fork lift. I want to return it and get my money back." Bob Crites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Well.....FWIW, I too have felt a bit put-off by someone stating that low or no feedback bidders not accepted. I can see it from the sellers perspective. However it does make me feel like, "What?? Am I or my money not as good as the next guy's?" Like plummer, I haven't bought too many items off eBay and in some cases went directly to a sellers store. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardP Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Well.....FWIW, I too have felt a bit put-off by someone stating that low or no feedback bidders not accepted. I can see it from the sellers perspective. However it does make me feel like, "What?? Am I or my money not as good as the next guy's?" Like plummer, I haven't bought too many items off eBay and in some cases went directly to a sellers store. Tom I don't think Ebay will allow a seller to refuse a bid or sale to a buyer with at least 1 feedback; however, they do allow sellers to refuse bids from buyers with zero or all negative feedback. A zero-feedback bidder obvously has no proven track record, regardless of his/her actual financial responsibility, and may even be a new account/user who just wants to cause trouble, bidding with no intent to pay, i.e., Ebay "vandalism." A negative-feeback bidder means they may be non-payers or caused real problems for some past seller. New legitimate users may need to build up their feedback totals on inexpensive item purchases. As far as the original poster's issue, the seller apparently thought his low feedback total indicated a low probability of him actually buying. It is clear just from reading auction descriptions that many sellers are scumbags, who may not be honest in their auctions and they certainly don't want to spend time answering emails. In 10 years, I have bought about 200 items, and sold about 100, am honest and communicative and have 330+ positive feedbacks (100%). Yet I too have been ignored occasionally by sellers to whom I emailed a question. As a seller, I do have to bite my tongue sometimes: all my auctions state clearly "Paypal only", but I still have buyers who complete the auction then say "can I use a money order...I don't like using Paypal." Also common are persons from other countries who, despite my clearly stated "US sales only," ask about shipping overseas. PS: Tremendous kudos to Bob Crites; over 4000 positive Ebay feedbacks (100%), despite the abovementioned doofuses he has to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEC Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 A seller can block bids from any ebay user for any reason. Since now with the new ebay rules that will not even allow a seller to leave negative feedback for a buyer, sellers have become a lot more careful about who they allow to bid. If the seller gets a question that gives any indication that there may be a problem after the sale, the seller will likely block that bidder from all his auctions. I have heard that there exists some lists floating around the internet that sellers can use to block bidders that other sellers have had trouble with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 A seller can block bids from any ebay user for any reason. Since now with the new ebay rules that will not even allow a seller to leave negative feedback for a buyer, sellers have become a lot more careful about who they allow to bid. If the seller gets a question that gives any indication that there may be a problem after the sale, the seller will likely block that bidder from all his auctions. I have heard that there exists some lists floating around the internet that sellers can use to block bidders that other sellers have had trouble with. Well....like I said, I understand it from the seller's perspective and am ok with it. I'm sure if I was selling on eBay a lot, I'd be the same way. I was just commenting about how it made me "feel" that's all. What I really think this points to is how sad it is that it's come down to this due to all the less-than-legit folks out there. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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